


Recovery

by SilverMoon53



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Post-Episode: e155 Cost of Living (The Magnus Archives), honestly you should expect that from me by now. im disaster, literally just the three of them talking about choices and decisions and being there for each other, originally written for whumptober with the prompt recovery and posted now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:33:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24115075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMoon53/pseuds/SilverMoon53
Summary: Melanie is blind. Daisy and Basira spend some time with her.
Relationships: Basira Hussain & Melanie King & Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Melanie King & Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Melanie King & Basira Hussain
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	Recovery

**Author's Note:**

> I just... love these three.... so much

“Honestly, I don’t know what you expected, Melanie.” 

“What I _expected,_ Basira, was to be able to quit. Which I did, for the record.” Melanie raised her chin and smirked, though the movement was too rapid and she felt dizzy for a split second. “I just hadn’t considered what might happen after.” 

“Yeah, I got that much.” Basira scoffed and Melanie could picture her shaking her head. “I just can’t believe you would do something so reckless!”

“Have you met her?” Daisy countered, deadpan. Melanie laughed. 

“Still. Cutting your eyes out in the middle of the institute was extreme, even by your standards.”

“You know what else was extreme?” Melanie snapped. She turned her head to where Basira’s voice came from and glared sightlessly. “Cutting someone’s leg open to remove a bullet without asking them if they even _wanted_ the damn thing out.” Basira sucked in a breath and Melaine could imagine the look on her face. 

“Hey, that’s not fair,” Daisy said. “It wasn’t her idea, and-”

“None of this is fair! Fair doesn’t matter, fair is never something any of us ever had. All I’ve had, all my life, was _choices,_ choices _I_ can make, choices _I_ decide to make. I _chose_ to let the Slaughter into me, let it give me direction, channel my anger. I _didn’t_ get a choice when it was taken from me. I _didn’t_ get a choice when the Eye or Beholding or whatever decided I couldn’t leave, so I _chose_ to get out. It was _my choice_ , and I’d choose it again in a heartbeat. ” Her eyes hurt, the empty space filled with their aching absence, feeling far too similar to the ache that never quite faded from where the bullet had been. 

This hurt would fade though. And until it did, she had more control over it. 

“I’m sorry,” Basira said quietly after a stretch. “I- I’m sorry.” 

“It’s alright,” Melanie said with a heavy sigh. The anger was gone as quickly as it had come, a fleeting kiss that never lasted as long as she wanted it to. All she was left with was that deep, endless exhaustion, all the way down to her bones and deeper. All she was left with was her choice, and she held that darkness with all her remaining strength. 

“It’s not, though. Like you said, none of this is fair, none of this is alright.” Daisy’s voice was low, scratchy, still hadn’t quite lost that gasping quality from her months in the Coffin. “So what, though? It’s not like any of us were going to have any sort of normal life after this. Best we can hope for is a life on our own terms.”

“Cheers to that.” Melanie raised a pretend glass in a toast.

“Fair enough. Clink,” Basira added, and Melanie nodded her thanks. “Still, I wish you had made more of a plan than ‘stab my own eyes out in the middle of the workday.’ You could have at least asked a professional to do it for you.”

“Right, and then you’d be visiting me in the psych ward instead of taking care of me at home, and I’d still be trapped. The doctors at A&E fixed me up well enough.”

“Yeah, what’d you tell them happened anyway? Not that I’m planning on doing anything like that,” Daisy added quickly, presumably after a glare from Basira. Melanie shrugged.

“Told them it was an accident at the Magnus Institute. Figured it’s close enough to the truth to get them to stop asking questions. No one likes to deal with you guys.”

“Fair enough,” Basira said. 

“Hey, did you notice I said ‘you guys’ instead of ‘us’? I guess that means it worked, right?”

“Guess it does,” Daisy said. “So what happens next?”

“Hell if I know,” Melanie laughed. “I’ll figure something out, though. I always do.”

“You don’t have to do it alone,” Basira said. “We’re here for you. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know.” She smiles, a warmth in her heart she hadn’t felt for a long time. “Thanks.”

**Author's Note:**

> As always, feel free to find me on tumblr (@silversideblog for my general writing blog or @tapeclickson for my tma specific blog) or on discord (cloudcover7167). Thanks for reading!


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